Who has sales potential at your company?
The role of the sales person is changing Maybe there is someone already at your company who could bring in more sales for you? Do you have a young member of staff who understands social media or is good at creating content? Is there a customer services person who is great at upselling? What about a press operator who gets on well with others and could persuade a few people they know to try your company out? You might not have to hire a new sales person Maybe you have enough skills with your current team. They don’t have to…
The four essential ingredients of a successful case study
It is easy to feature the wrong type of case study I see many printing companies proudly present “case studies” on their website and elsewhere. But often these are little more than glorified testimonials. They do not inspire readers to place work with the company. The wrong case study achieves nothing other than making the person who wrote it, the printing company and their client feel good. With that in mind, let’s do a deep dive into successful case studies. What is a case study? A case study is a detailed overview of a specific project that a company has…
Make all your staff sales people
Everyone in your company might know a potential customer It’s time to encourage them to go and look for new business for you. Here’s a simple 3-stage process: Let your staff know you want more business and ask them to find customers Tell them the type of customer you want: this is vital so you aren’t inundated with prospects who aren’t the right fit Incentivise your staff. Try offering them 10% of the turnover of the first job from a new customer Here’s the proof that this works When I worked as a production assistant for a publishing company I…
Are sales people still relevant?
Do you still need sales people? Sales people are expensive. There are numerous ways to win business more efficiently nowadays. These include: Online advertising – but this is more expensive than you might think and there is a lot of online competition Relying on repeat business – I am always surprised at how many printing companies rely on this when most companies lose 15% of their customers every year Referral networks and business clubs – these can be surprisingly useful, providing that you have the time to manage this activity successfully Each of these activities still requires some sales resource….
Is your sales person selling what you want?
Do you find yourself printing jobs you never wanted? I hear many, many stories from printing companies about how sales people are bringing in the wrong type of work. I am told that people are trying to bring in work at any cost, rather than thinking about what is right for the company. Here are three questions if you are faced with this issue What type of work do you want? It’s very easy to realise that a job isn’t right for your company. It is a lot harder to work out the right sort of job. But if you…
Seven Different ways to remunerate a sales person
Sales commission isn’t always as easy as it looks There’s a whole range of ways to compensate a sales person. All of them have their plus points and the minus points. Let’s have a look at potential ways to make sure your sales person earns their money in a way that keeps you and them happy. Turnover This is the most common way that sales people get paid. It is simple. But it does come with a number of disadvantages. It is normally paid on top of a basic wage. Pros – This is a very simple way to calculate…
3 guidelines for setting targets for sales people
Many sales targets are no help to sales people Most sales people are told to bring in a certain amount of revenue. But that is all the guidance that they are given. Some aren’t even given a revenue target. For anyone in sales to perform their best, they need a bit of guidance. Here are three elements that should be in any sales target: Set the right figures Giving people a turnover target is important. But make sure you specify the right profit as well. It is important that sales people sell work that makes you enough money! Tell people…
Where do you find a good sales person? Three options
Good sales people are hard to find One of the most frequent requests from my readers is if I know of a good sales person looking for a job. And I am inundated with stories about companies that hired a sales rep with a supposedly good order book who didn’t work out. However, in my experience, many of the best sales people are not necessarily from within the printing industry. Here are three ideas for recruiting sales people: Hire relationship builders One of the most successful print sales people I have heard of used to be a journalist. They were…
Nine communication channels and social media platforms you need to get to know
Communications are becoming more fragmented We are seeing a huge growth of choice in communication channels. More and more options are being launched. People are becoming far more personal in the way that they choose to communicate with each other. There is also a backlash against some of the more established social media platforms. After their takeovers, people are moving away in large numbers from Twitter and Instagram. These numbers aren’t enough to threaten the existence of the platforms, but they are enough to reduce the traction that companies may have had there. And they are enough for it to…
A 5-point plan to keep clients happy when you are delivering late
Here’s the story of how two different printers approached late delivery I remember the morning well. I came into the office on a Monday to find an e-mail from a major supplier with bad news. It had been pouring with rain all weekend. Their bindery was flooded. Their staff were all wearing wellington boots and moving around in inches of water. It was not safe to operate their equipment. The printer had owned up quickly to the problem. They listed all the jobs that would be affected. They also promised to give up regular updates on new delivery dates: they…
